Hi Adam,

Thanks for your feedback as being someone directly in the age group we're discussing.

Quick question for you:

Can you think of some people your age who shouldn't be allowed anywhere near a car like the Boxster? You said you know kids with even more powerful cars, do you think all of them are responsible enough to be driving those cars either?

Do you know if the parents of some of these kids with those cars are just completely clueless as to the way their kids actually behave when behind the wheel?

This is the issues that we as adults run into.
We want the kids to make it home safe and sound every single time they leave the house. We don't ever want to have police officers show up on our doorstep, and as us to go with them to the nearest hospital or morgue.

Hopefully you and your friends can appreciate that.

While we know some kids out there, like yourself, are perfectly mature enough to handle a Boxster with care and skill, there are many more that are a danger behind the wheel, and can hurt themselves, or others.

BC.

Sure BC, I would gladly answer those questions. Yes I can think of some people my age that shouldnt be allowed anywhere near a boxster, and even a car for that matter. The good thing is, those are the ones that are easy to spot because they have a track record of irresponsiblility that is easy to find as an adult if the parent doesnt take an active role in the teens life. Does he get in trouble at school? How are the grades? How does he treat you, the family, and others? What kind of people does he hang out with / what are some of the storys about the people he hangs out with? Does he do drugs / party often? Police record? Hows the prior driving history? Those are all telltale signs of a track record of people that shouldnt be allowed near a boxster.

In regards to my friends who drive more powerful cars than I do, I believe most of them are responsible enough to have them. Everyones situation is different, but most of my friends worked for their cars and had a good record with their parents where they would ok the car. Albeit there are the hand few that just got spoiled by their parents like a girl I know whos parents bought her a Black 06 BMW 650I.

It is my belief to let the teen choose the car he wants. My parents did it with me. I had the option of an older corvette, a pontiac gto, a new Nissan 350z, etc. but Ive always wanted a Porsche since I rode in one at age 8. Not that everyone is going to have a story like that but the point is is that if the teen chooses the car "THAT MEANS HE WILL HAVE MORE RESPECT FOR THE CAR BECAUSE IT IS A CAR THEY WANT." If they have a good record, make them work for the car. IE- they need to put in at least $1500 for the car. They pay their own gas and insurance. They pay the maintenance for the car. A teen is more apt to take care of what they consider their own. Most teens are scrupulous with their money. They may not spend it wisely for the most part, but when they spend a lot of it on something they like.. say an ipod or a new computer, etc. they take care of it. Same thing with as car. If a teen has to put a lot of money into HIS CAR, he will realize this and be more responsible with it.

Lastly, I do believe some parents are somewhat clueless what their kids are like behind the wheel. It is the hardest thing to tell because under interrogation and being observed driving, anyone can put on a show of a good.. defensive driver who obeys the speed limits. But most parents should know how their teen drives, well they all should know because there is no excuse for not knowing. Here in Illinois you have to drive the car with a parent in the passenger seat with your permit for I believe it is now 100 HOURS before you can get your license. Some parents make up a lot of that time on the sheet, but still if a parent is taking the kid to their soccer game or baseball game, they should let them drive. Most have their teens drive here and their. Being an experienced driver, you should be able to tell the teens driving style from just being inside the car if you dont say a word about the driving and just let it happen.

Taking the teen for ax and driving lessons with the boxster would be a good thing.. my mom did it differently when we got my car. We drove from Chicago, IL to Cincinnati, OH to pick up the car from an Alderman of Cincinnati who sold us the car. My mom was driving her 2000 Pontiac GTP (Supercharged) and I in the Boxster. Before we got onto the expressway, she told me to follow her at all times. We hopped onto the expressway and my mom took off weaving in and out of traffic at 100mph when the flow was about 65-70mph... I had to pursue or loose her. Driving those first 15 miles like that taught me a lot about the car we bought 30 min previous.. the best 243 miles I ever drove.

If anyone has any questions, I would happily oblige and answer them to the best of my abilities as I am a teen.

Adam

My first car was an 86 fiero GT. Although I was upset at first because I could only haul around one extra person, I could understand my parents reasoning. That car would exceed 120 mph however with the technology that is out there and gps technology, you could always cap the top speed with a computer and track the car with gps. Might be a good car for a teenager.

I'll add that most bad teen driving I see is when a teen is on a cell phone or driving with 3+ other people in their car. A Boxster can get rid off both of those problems.
If you have a manual you can't really pull off talking on a phone most of the time, and because it only has two seats their is only one person to distract the driver.

I think it is ultimately up to parents to know their kids well enough to decide if they are responsible enough to drive a car like the Boxster.

Adam, you're very defensive! There's a reason insurance is so much higher for young, inexperienced drivers. I was a very responsible teen, never got into trouble, and got A's, but guess what; I showed poor judgement & driving skills on many occasions! I was only in one minor accident, but it was one that I would have avoided with several more years experience.
I had to pay 1/2 the price of my first car, which was a '69 Mustang for a whopping $2000!
One important point is: what year/value is the Boxster we're talking about? How easily can you afford having it totaled? If it has a low value and won't cause financial hardship if it's damaged, the decision may be a bit easier.
Steve

Yes I am very defensive because Ive come up in a stereotypical, biased world that say I cant do something, that I and others like me are something or cant do something because we are too young and inexperienced.

I am told I cant drive a car because Im inexperienced. Wrong, some people have a lot higher learning curve than most other people. You cant judge a person by there cover and your abilities and standards. Everyone is different.

Im young and Im told to go to college so I can get a good job working for someone else. Wrong. I own two start up companies, and people look at me, tell me, or even think to themselves.. that Im not going to make it or that Im too young and dumb.

The reason insurance rates are so high is that they are biased against teens, if you go look up statistics you will see that older drivers 55+ have the same rate of accidents and even higher than teens, yet their insurance is less. Insurance is a BUSINESS MEANT TO MAKE A PROFIT... they make it from teens. Essentially they screw teens because they are already biased against from day one of driving so therefore it is easy to use that as cover charge higher rates, and the best part about it ... TEENS HAVE TO PAY! Every teen wants to drive and if it cost them $600 a year more than their parents, they will pay it to drive.. and even if you complain, you cant change the system. They have what you want and need required by law to drive. If you disagree with me, feel free to go look up statistics, facts, and reports that are all free information online and offline. I already have, my final project for a Sociology class was on this specific topic about teen drivers, insurance, and safety.

Cheers,

Adam

Taking the teen for ax and driving lessons with the boxster would be a good thing.. my mom did it differently when we got my car. We drove from Chicago, IL to Cincinnati, OH to pick up the car from an Alderman of Cincinnati who sold us the car. My mom was driving her 2000 Pontiac GTP (Supercharged) and I in the Boxster. Before we got onto the expressway, she told me to follow her at all times. We hopped onto the expressway and my mom took off weaving in and out of traffic at 100mph when the flow was about 65-70mph... I had to pursue or loose her. Driving those first 15 miles like that taught me a lot about the car we bought 30 min previous.. the best 243 miles I ever drove.

If anyone has any questions, I would happily oblige and answer them to the best of my abilities as I am a teen.

Adam[/QUOTE]


If the above is true and you and your mother were indeed weaving in and out of 65 to 70 mph traffic at 100 mph, I truly doubt anyone here trying to talk sense will have much of an impact on you. Insurance rates are based on actuarial tables, teenage drivers are simply much more prone to have accidents, if you don't believe that and still maintain the rates are simply there "to screw teenagers" you truly have your head in the sand. Oh, and BTW....I'm judgemental of others all the time and it is always based upon their behavior, if I would of seen a pair of cars driving wrecklessly as you described above I would of blown you in via cell phone. I could go on for awhile but I doubt it would result in anything other than a flame war. Just speaking my mind as to the truth as I see it......Mark.

Really?

Try using your kneecap to steer, I've seen it before.

Or just ask lovebunny or FTD how they put makeup on while driving.

I also hate to setreotype people but fact of the matter is that it happens and the stereotypes are sometimes accurate. Yes, there will always be very responsible kids who will not take advantage of the situation. However, there are just many possibilities out there that are negatives:

-The curiosity will always be out there to at least test the cars limits once.
-Its difficult to be responsible 100% of the time and the Boxster's limits are much more dangerous than the regular family sedan
-As Bladecutter said "its your kids friends that you need to worry about and also have no control over". Perhaps your kid is responsible enough to say no their friends request but I bet it will be very difficult for the teen to say no 100's of times. How many people in high school get a chance to drive a Porsche?
-Jealousy can be a problem as well. The Porsche may get vandalized or the teen may even be looked poorly upon when a teacher drives buy in their 3K commuter. I used to live in an affluent part of town and M5's, M3's, RX7's, Range Rovers and even exotics were not uncommon. Many of our teachers were green with envy.

I was a fairly responsible teen with much wealthier friends that had many nicer cars and sports cars. Most of them got into stupid accidents due to speed and inexperience. I admit that I have driven recklessly as well but my automatic 4 door sedan just wasn't cool enough to get me into too much trouble. I still got plenty of speeding tickets but I was never able to go excessive enough to really hurt myself or anyone else. Now that I think back I appreciate my parents in not allowing me to have a premium sports car back then. Peer pressure is a horrible thing.

I would do what my parents did with me. They got me a used original Ford Explorer as the car that got me to school and something I could use everyday, but they also trusted me with our sports cars. At some point they (kids in general) are going to have to learn to be responsible.

Letting them drive the car when you are in it as well or going to an A-X/DE are also good ideas. Let them have fun, but under supervision at first.

Every kid is different, but you can't control everything. I don't know your son, but who is to say that he isn't an amazingly safe driver or that one day when you are out of the house he is going to take your car out for a joyride and total it.

Ultimately it's your final decision and you know your son better than anyone here and thus you have the best means to come to a decision.

Just to play devils advocate, every car I personally have purchased has had a manual transmission and it has never stopped me from talking on my cell phone...

However, I basically emulated the habits taken by my parents (father in particular) who always does something while driving. I also learned that there is a limit as to what you can do while driving (mainly because I was scared when he was behind the wheel), something my father hasn't quite figured out yet...

But I do agree that having 1 other seat in the car is less dangerous than 4 others.

Tell him NOT TO TEXT while driving!!!!! Much more dangerous than talking!
and if he does talk pay more attention to the road than the conversation!

You've admitted over the course of this thread to misdemeanor or felony speeding (depending on the posted speed limit for the roads on which you were "chasing" your mom) - indicating that (a) you chose to ignore the law, and (b) you allowed your judgement to be swayed by someone else.

How is this a compelling argument to give a Boxster to a teenage driver?

Yes, there are biases against young people. Mostly these are born out with accident data and so forth.

Yes, there are young people to whom these biases do not apply.

So, how do you tell the difference? What test is there that will identify these people?

ALL new drivers start out the same way = 0! Zero accidents, zero speeding tickets, zero miles of experience. Along the way, many more move into the + column than not, those are the facts.

Once a person has demonstrated that they are good drivers, their rates go down... that is accomplished with TIME.

But it's not all just about those statistics either.

Young people rack up more leisure miles, they rack up more miles at night, they are often carrying other young passengers, they are more social at that time of their lives and so don't stay home as much. They have fewer responsibilities and approach life from that position, trying new things, taking more chances, etc.

They are also gaining experience with many other things for the first time such as
alcohol - a perfectly legal substance (age dependent), and many people reduce their consumption with age (been there/done that, have to get up in the morning and FUNCTION, deterred by DUI threat, etc.).

You may indeed be one of the MANY exceptions, but how do we identify this?

Insurance Cos. and other institutions in society have to be modeled for the norm, not the exception.

I dispute your research about teen driving. I think you're cherry-picking your facts.

Here's a report on teenage drivers done by the California DMV (not associated with the insurance industry) :
Teenage Driver Risks .

Among other things, it states:

"California teenage drivers aged 16-19-years-old have extremely high per capita and mileage-adjusted crash and traffic violation rates. This report summarizes the literature regarding the risk factors involved in their high crash rates, as well as the countermeasures that have been used in California and elsewhere to reduce their high crash risk.

Although some portion of teenage crash involvements can be accounted for by poorer basic vehicle handling skills, the research suggests that it is young drivers’ immaturity and inexperience, and the resultant risk-taking, that contribute most to their increased crash risk. Certain driving conditions, such as nighttime driving and transporting young passengers, are particularly high risk for teen drivers. The higher crash rates for teens associated with the use of alcohol and drugs may mostly be the result of a general pattern of risky behavior."

I'm guessing this one didn't make it into your Sociology project ;)

I agree with you that if teens were not an increased risk on the road, their rates should be the same as others, but that's simply not the case.

And, there are plenty of people 25-55 who are bad drivers too, and they're paying rates just as high as teens, or higher.

:cheers:

Yes I did. If you read the beginning of the paragraph, I said it would be good to get professional driving lessons and or learn the limits of the car autocrossing. My mom chose to test me and I chose to oblige. Im not saying it was the right thing to do, but it is what it is. You can not say you have not done something of a similar nature with any new car no matter your age. You are spinning the story to suit your point. It is a compelling argument to give a boxster to a teen driver, the facts are there and you just need to realize them. As I said in an earlier post.. who are you to judge others? Who are you to tell them what they can and cannot have? Even from a parents respect they still have no right to force their will upon their teenagers for reason being that they themselves are their own person and not a slave. We all judge other people yet we have no right to.

And here's another one you apparently overlooked:

http://editorial.autos.msn.com/article.aspx?cp-documentid=498409&pkw=PI&vendor=Paid+Inclusion&OCI D=iSEMPI

:cheers:

Actually, the Law has generally always respected a Parent's right to control the behavior of their child... why?

Very simply, the Parent is legally and monetarily responsible for their child's behavior and welfare until they reach adulthood.

I'm not picking at you, we've all been there - high rates, being told what to do (which is really only a problem if you disagree with what you're being told)... it's just part of life.

:cheers:

I'm not spinning the story to suit my point - merely reiterating what you wrote. Within minutes of getting the Boxster, you were driving recklessly in a car you were not familiar with. You're carping about being stereotyped in the same thread where you relate a story of how you behaved stereotypically.

If a car on the expressway had merged into your lane while you were "weaving in and out of traffic" at speeds up to 100MPH, the results would have been life altering...

And yes, I can say I have not done this with a new car as an adult. I drive fast now, sure, but I drive fast in situations where a mechanical failure or poor driving on my part would at worst cause the deaths of me and a cactus. I drove recklessly as a kid, and I was an "good" kid. Thankfully, I was driving a Delta 88 when I had my worst wreck - if I'd been driving a Boxster instead of a massive Oldsmobile, I would have been cut out of that wreck.

The original poster was asking for opinions - and everyone here has been opining. Also worth considering is that everyone here who's shared an opinion has in fact been a teenager and therefore has a perfectly valid point of view, regardless of how dated that view might be in your estimation or how it might conflict with yours.

WHO ARE YOU TO JUDGE US FOR BEING OPINIONATED? WHAT GIVES YOU THE RIGHT?

Back to the OP....I believe the above banter from both teenagers and older "seasoned" members is pretty illustrative as to whether or not to give / lend / trust your 16 year old with a Boxster. I've got a few kids, they're all different and will be trusted accordingly, none of them will get sports cars to drive right off....period. If they want a sports car they can go out and earn it later in life, it will likely be more appreciated then. Nothing will be given to them with a bow on it either, there will be conditions and rules, violating said rules (if I catch them, we were all 16 once) will result in the forfeiture of their driving my car....period. In Ohio, driving is a priviledge, not a right, if the parent or guardian does not sign off on the driver's license the kid cannot drive until the age of 18. My job as a parent is not to be cool, it is to raise the kids well, provide for them, help educate them and lead by example. Any exposure or experience to sport cars is purely a bonus....lol.

IMO, The correctly chosen four banger can be a very fun car to learn on with plenty of back road spirit and without the temptation of great quickness. The economy helps lengthen the teen's gas cash, (a selling point) and certainly lowers the insurance liability. There are times when people treat every Porsche encounter as a chance to squeak their tires and tell about the time they beat a Porsche in a race with whatever they drive. As an adult, it's easy to watch and laugh as a teen it's easy to chase and potentially cause great harm..Just my opinion but even my 944 was too fast for a teen.

I got a Civic for my first car when I turned 16 (I'm 22 now)

I never crashed it, but I broke it every time I tried to fix it. I wore out axels when I lowered it. If the trans. wasn't so forgiving it would have been toast.

I messed up some little things on accident. I'm really anal now, that car got a ton of little dents that would really annoy me if it were a nicer car.



My dad had an 01 Corvette. I'm lucky I never killed myself or anyone else when I took that out.. 150mph +, hard cornering etc..

My dad did however, put me in Kart racing at a young age. That probably did give me the skill to not crash any of the fast cars I've driven while I didn't have much experience.

The Boxster feels pretty slow to me compared to some of the cars I've owned, so at first I was like why not. On second thought, I could have very possibly got myself into some serious trouble if I was daily driving a Boxster instead of a Civic at first.

Just my .02